It was short work for the group to find themselves with their icy treat of choice after visiting the concession stands. Sunset had a bowl of ice cream notably smaller than the rest, but she did eat an entire corn cob a moment ago, so that was to be expected. As for the other four ponies, they each had a regular sized bowl. Sitting down at one of the offered tables, Stage Play and Line Writer waved to the other side for their guests to sit.
“So,” Sunset raised an eyebrow, “How, exactly, do you know my dad here?”
“Well, the three of us were in the same platoon in the guard.” Line Writer smirked. “I was enlisted as the guard’s lead playwright, and Stage Play here was our best actor.”
“You bet your hooves I was.” Stage laughed. “I could do a mean dictator impression.” He pointed to Sunset’s dad and smirked. “Course, even the minor roles had to go through training and do the minimum guard duty. That’s where we ended up becoming friends.”
Sunset nodded a bit to herself, before looking back to Stage Play. “And my mom?”
The stallion laughed that boisterous laugh from earlier, before wiping a tear from his eye. “Well, we most definitely didn’t know her as intimately as your old man over there.” Stage Play put a hoof around Hot Air, who gave him a deadpan glare. “What we do know, is that she was one terrible actor.”
Line groaned and rolled his eyes. “Oh don’t get me started! I asked her to play a minor part one time, and somehow she managed to cause the entire tent to collapse on both the performers and the audience. I was giving refunds for the rest of the day, and got latrine duty!”
Hot Air smiled and jabbed his friends in their forelegs. “Hey, she made up for it in passion.”
“Passion doesn’t pay military grade fines, Hot.” Line sighed and shook his head. “That’s why when you two wanted a second chance after we got enough of our performers back to try again, I had to say no. I almost got court-martialed that week.”
Twilight hummed in thought before she turned to Sunset. “That does beg the question, though. Just what was your mother doing at a military performance?”
Stage Play perked up for a moment and frowned as he looked to Sunset. “Hey, what exactly did this brick headed idiot tell you about her?”
Sunset and Twilight blinked in surprise before the former slowly put her spoon down for a moment. “Well... he said they were childhood friends, and fell for each other, before going on a bunch of adventures across Equestria.”
The two performers shared a single glance, before narrowing their gaze at the slightly sweating Hot Air. It was Stage Play that had a hoof on the table as he turned first. “You, lying, sack of manure!”
Hastily waving his hooves, Hot Air tried to scoot back some. “H-Hey! You both know that we couldn’t just up and say anything about it!”
Line scowled as he started closing what little distance was between the three of them. “So you brought her and the princess here and got us involved? Didn’t want to tell the truth yourself after telling another tall tale?”
“STOP!” The three froze and turned to Sunset, who had slammed her hooves into the table. “We are taking this somewhere less public.” Looking around, several ponies were talking in hushed whispers and staring at the group in worry and interest.
The three stallions all shared a glance with each other, two heated, one shamed, before the two performers led the other three towards a tent. Inside, there were several crates scattered about. Stage Play stayed at the entrance, giving a nod to Sunset. “I’ll stay here and keep any unwanted eyes from getting in.” Sunset nodded her thanks as she and her father, along with Twilight, headed deeper inside.
It was when the din of the crowd outside started to die down, did Sunset turn to face her father with a heated glare. “No more beating around the bush. Just how much of what you told me about mom was a lie? Was she even a childhood friend? Did you two ever actually travel Equestria?” Sunset’s eyes felt like they were burning as she snorted and stomped her hoof. “Has everything you’ve told me been a lie, and you thought you’d pull these two in on it? Is that it!?”
Hot Air narrowed his own eyes as he faced his daughter. “That’s not it at all!” The two starred in silent anger before Hot Air let out a sigh. “I... I knew if I tried to do it alone, I’d--”
Line Writer scowled as he shook his head. “Don’t make any excuses, Hot.” Walking over to the stallion, the former guard jabbed him in the chest with a hoof. “You’re telling her, and that’s that.” Line Writer took a step back and glanced at Sunset, giving her the briefest of nods.
Sunset was about to dive into chewing out her dad again, but Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her head. A warm trickle down her cheek made her realize she even had tears in her eyes at all. Were her emotions getting that out of hand? It was with a minute of deep breaths that Sunset got her clam again. “Dad.” Calm, but not happy. That was a fact clear as day with the tone of her voice as Hot Air felt his ears fall back. “What exactly is it you’ve been keeping secret about my mother.”
Hot Air fell back onto his rump as he let all his fight leave him. “Your mother was... deeply connected with certain events. We were under a royal order to keep quiet about it, because of how sensitive the information was.” He scoffed for a moment as he shot a small glare to Line Writer. “Heck, we still are under a royal order of silence.” With sadness in his eyes, he looked back to Sunset. “It’s why I’m not sure if telling you about this is such a good idea.”
Twilight felt her neck and wings stiffen. “If that’s the case.” Sunset turned to her friend, somewhat shocked out of her anger by the neutral tone it had taken. “Then by royal order, I demand you explain yourself, Hot Air.” In that one command, Twilight had made it clear that it wasn’t just Sunset’s friend the pegasus was answering.
For that moment, Twilight had left the stage.
It was Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria that stood next to his daughter, and she was giving him a direct order.
Hot Air glanced at his daughter, but like Twilight, her eyes had moved onto him and was waiting for his response. It was with a sigh that he looked to the ground as he began to tell his tale. “We were guarding the treasury at the time. Just another boring day, watching dust float through the air and standing utterly still. Next thing we know, there’s a loud boom echoing from inside. At first, we thought somepony had teleported in and rushed inside to apprehend the unicorn in question.” It took Hot Air a moment for him to look his daughter in the eye. “We found a young mare lying unconscious on the ground instead, lacking any form of a horn.”
Twilight looked to her friend for a moment, seeing her glare at her dad, before looking back to the stallion in question. “You’re saying that she was teleported into the treasury?”
Hot Air shook his head and scuffed his hoof into the floor. “No.” He glanced at Line Writer, who only motioned back to the two mares, before somehow managing to slump into himself more. “There were some different artifacts in the castle at the time, and Starswirl himself made many of them. Sunny Days... fell out of one of them.”
The tension was palpable. Twilight was shocked by that bit of information. Her mind kept trying to bounce this new revelation around, but it just wasn’t sticking. A glance towards Sunset was all she could do.
Sunset stared down at the ground with wide, haunted eyes, however. There was a slight quiver in her voice, but she looked towards her father’s hooves. “Was... was it a mirror?”
Both Hot Air and Line Writer blinked in surprise, sharing a glance before the pegasus nodded with some hesitation. “U-Uh... yes, Sunset how do you know about--?”
Twilight waved a hoof, cutting him off. “Hot Air, please continue your story.” It may have been a bit rude, but the princess figured Sunset would need a moment.
“Y-Yes your highness.” Hot Air cleared his throat and took a breath, staring towards his hooves. “After taking her to the infirmary, Celestia was informed of what happened. The princess wasn’t able to see her at the time, as her new aide made a mistake and caused her to have a mess of scheduling errors. Because of that, a retainer was to watch over Sunny until the mirror activated again in thirty moons. I was chosen for the job by my commander.” Hot Air rubbed the back of his head and looked to the side. “That’s where most of the lies end and the truth begins, Sunset. I did save your mother from falling off the edge of Canterlot once upon a time. She wasn’t the best at balancing with four legs for a while. After that, it was just waiting for the portal to open again, and I had to satisfy her curiosity to keep her--.” He stopped when he finally got enough courage to look towards his daughter.
Only to see her still staring down at her hooves in shock. “Sunset?”
Sunset’s eyes flickered about as she tried to think about what she’d been told. “She was... from the human world?” It just didn’t seem possible. This had to be another one of Dad’s stories, right? It had to be another lie, but then why did his friends have to force him? How did they even know about the mirror portal? Was it an act? Were they in on it? Was he telling the truth?
For some reason, that last thought scared Sunset the most.
Twilight felt awful seeing Sunset like this and put a wing over her friend’s shoulders, before turning to Hot Air. “I think it would be better to continue this at your home, Mr. Air. After we give Sunset some time to herself.”
“I...” Hot Air watched as Sunset was lead out of the tent by The Princess of Friendship before he let out one last sigh, and turned to his college. “Line? Thanks for keeping me from chickening out. I knew I could count on you two for that.”
“You always were a coward.” Line Writer smirked a bit, before patting the pegasus on the back. “Take care Hot.”
~Meanwhile at CHS~
The second period of the day was soon coming to a close, and Twilight’s head was resting against her desk. All day she’d been seeing spots dancing across her vision at random. Sometimes it was making her friends and some students blurred out, sometimes it wasn't. Worst of all though, was when it would be blocking the teacher’s writing mid-lecture. “Ugh... Why didn’t I take that coffee Cadence offered?”
A hand rubbed her shoulder, and Twilight looked up to see Applejack struggling to stay awake alongside her. “C’mon now Twilight, ain’t even noon yet. See if ya can hold on till lunch, and we’ll get ya bright and starry-eyed in no time.”
Applejack didn’t know it, but that was a poor choice of words. As soon as the farm girl said them, Twilight could see more flashes of light dancing around her friend. The studious lavender girl could swear that they were taking on the color of Applejack's skin as well.
Twilight, however, could only groan as she put a hand over her face. “Please don’t mention stars.”
Understandably, Applejack only looked confused as she raised an eyebrow. “Uh, pardon?”
Sighing, Twilight took off her glasses to rub her somewhat sore eyes. “Applejack, I’m so tired right now I keep seeing stars every time I look down the hallway. Some are so bright they make my eyes hurt.” Still dreary, Twilight went to put her glasses on, only to pause and stare ahead at the class. “Wait.” Something was different, and not just because the room had the same smooth blur her unaltered sight usually had. There was a detail missing though; one that was bugging her to no end. Raising her glasses in front of her, she looked through the lens towards the front of the class, making a note of the spots returning.
When she lowered them again, the spots were gone. Up, spots. Down, gone.
Spots. Gone. Spots. Gone. Spots. Gone.
Applejack stared at her friend continuously lifting and lowering her glasses, getting progressively more awake with each pass, her eyebrows knitting together as she frowned. “Twilight, somethin' the matter?”
The farm girl had to lean back as Twilight shoved her glasses into her friend’s face. “Applejack, tell me what you see.”
Hesitantly taking the glasses, Applejack looked them over before sighing and putting them on. “Ah don’t get what yer--” Applejack’s eyes shot open as she looked around the room. The whole classroom looked crystal clear, but that’s not what was catching her attention.
All over the room, specks of light, each about the size of a golf ball, were dancing around as if they were fairies. An absurd number of them were landing or hovering around Twilight, and a glance at her hand showed there were a bunch on herself as well.
Applejack's throat felt a touch dry as she took off the glasses and looked to her friend. “Woah, nelly...”
Twilight nervously swallowed as she took the glasses back, and set them down on her desk. “So... you see it too? With the glasses on?”
Applejack nodded and looked towards her hands. Knowing there was some sort of invisible little lights dancing around her left a somewhat unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Twilight, what in tarnation did Ah just see?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight sighed as she fiddled with the glasses for a moment, face scrunched in concentration, “but I think it might be best if I don’t wear my glasses until I figure out exactly what happened to them.”
Frowning, Applejack raised an eyebrow. “But don’t you kinda need ‘em? Last Ah checked yer blind as a bat without ‘em.”
The lavender girl gave a deadpan stare for a moment before sighing. “Don’t worry. I have some contacts in my locker. I’ll wear the glasses for now, but I’ll switch them out before lunch.”
The sound of the teacher clearing her throat got the two to look up and see that the entire class was staring at them along with Ms. Harshwhinny. “Girls, I know it can be hard to explain just how blind you are to someone without glasses, but please stop goofing off. My class is still in session until the bell rings.”
Amidst the chuckles and giggles of their peers, Twilight and Applejack both blushed and lowered their heads for a moment. “Yes, Ms. Harshwhinny.”
As Ms. Harshwhinny went back to the lesson, Applejack glanced back to Twilight. “Meet at lunch?”
Twilight gave a quick nod in return. “Emergency meeting at lunch.”